Locomotive booster apparatus



April 10,-192s. 1,665,324

F. R. PETERS LOCOMOTIVE BOOSTER APPARATUS Filed June 6, l925 2 Sheets-Sheet l [5 TEAM 70km; r

April 10, 1928.

F. R. PETERS LOCOMOTIVE BOOSTER APPARATUS Filed June 6. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 has Eh wix aw Patented Apr. 10, 1928.

UNITED 0F 1 r FRANK RICHARD PETERS, or new YbRK; nor gessielvonirofrneninlin RAIL AY SUPPLY COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

toooiviorrvn Boosr'nR zier iinertis. 1

Application filed June's, 1925. Serial No.'35,398.

This invention relates to locomotiveboost erapparatus and particularly to certain improvementstherein for the prevention of damage to moving parts in the event of fallure'in thecontrolling system.

As'isnow well understood in this art'locomotive b'ooster motors are intended to he operated for only a small proportion of the timeand are, therefore, arranged tobeen trained, and disent'rained from the axles which they drive. Gears 'arenow'commonly used to perform thise'ntraining operation which gears must be brought into mesh with the" least possible clashing in order toavoid damage thereto. Booster apparatus has been designed to accomplish" this purpose but there are times whenia failure in some part of the controlling system" for the boost er motor wouldv cause severe clashing and damage to the gears w'erean' attempt made to" use the booster before rectifying the troublef p 1 invention, therefore, has particular reference to an apparatus for preventing damage to the gears in the event of failure 7 inthecontrolling system such as would exist should the customary booster throttle remain in its open position after the booster is out out ordisentrained. I have for my specific object the provisionof means for shutting ofi the steam supply to the booster motor should the booster thro'ttle stickin its open position subsequent'to a"disentrainment operation. I also provide means for completely disabling the booster system under such circumstances. a

. The foregoing together with such other i objects as may appear hereinafter or are incident to my invention 1 obtain by means of a construction which is illustrated in.pre-

ferred form in the accompanying drawings, wherein v V v 3 Figs. 1 and 2 represent together a diagrammatic showing when arranged end to end with Fig.1 on the left.

The booster motor 1 andthe axle 2- which itdrives are arranged with-respect to each otherin the customary manner now well understoodin this artwhich involves the use of the driving pinion 3, the driven gear 4, fixed onthe axle 2 and the 'shiftable idler gear 5 mounted to swing on the pivot 6under the influenceaof the entraining motor 7 The axle 2 may be an axle either on the tender or on the locomotive as desired and the locomotive cut ofl is longest.

pressure operated as is the common practice at presentin this art.

Operating steam is supplied to the booster motor from the locomotive'steam chest thru" the pipe8 and in this pipe Sis located'the booster throttle .9 and a supplementary shutoifvalve '10. The throttle 9 isopeiied by means of the fluidpressur'e motor 11,-tl1e' piston 12' of which is connected to the boost; er throttle by means of the piston rod'*13,f rocking member 14 and stem 15i 'lVhen fluid pressure "forces the pistonw12 down wardly the stem :15 is pushed upwardly to' open'the booster throttle 9.? Asp'r'in'g '16 is designed to return'the piston 12. i f Theshut-ofi valve 110 ispivoted atjits uplper'side at the-point 1'7 andis normally held upwardly in open position by means of the pin l8 whichfta kes under the dog 19. I An a r'm20, pivotedat its lower e'nd 213fis connectedtothe'pin' 18 andialso to the'piston 22 of a fluid pressuremotor device'23nor ma'lly sp ing -held' in retracted position as shown in 'Fig; 2. WVhen pressure is-a'dmitted to" the face ofthe pist0n'22 the arm or lever 20 is moved outwardly and with it thefpin 18 whioh're'leases the shut-off valve 10 so thatit can dropdownagainst"its seat24 and'thus block the flow of 'steam through thepipe 8. I v

Fluid pressure controlling systems for booster motors are now common practice in the art and Ihave adopted'the main fea t'uresofs'uchfsyste'ms to WhichThavle added my improvements. n v

Boosters are utilized only at comparatively slow spee'ds'of thelocomotive or when In other words it the intention to use .th booster only when 'thereverse lever 25 is in 'the' forward corner or "some;

where near such corner for just as soon as the speed of the locomotive 7 gets up to a point where it is necessary to materially shorten the cut-off of the lo'com:( tive it is time to disent'r-ain the booster.

at or near its" I therefore provide the usual 'rev'erse'lever pilot valve26 which is adapted to be opened by means of the latch 27 andthe pivoted member" 28 whenever the reverse lever 25' is at or"v1'1ear'tl1ecorner'. The latch 27 is" itself pivoted for swinging movementup wardly and'downwardly on the reverse lever .25 and is adaptedto engage the rounded lug and discontinue the use of torthrough thepipe 8.

, through through the pipe 33 the gear-b the The fluid pressure system for controlling the booster apparatus is supplied with pressure, preferably air, from a source connected to the pipe 31.

. In operating the piston 12 of the booster throttle operating-motor the air pressure flows through the pipe 32 to the reverse lever pilotvalve 26 and, ifthis valve is opened as before indicated, the air passes onwardly 7 previously referred to. Entrainment of I gear '4 then takes place afterwhich communication is automatically established betweenithe pipe 33 i just 'mentioned and thepipe 34 leading from the en training. motor 7 to the face of the piston 12whichis, as before described, forced downwardly in order to open the'booster throttle 9. steam is then present in the steam che'st of the locomotive, operating pressure will he delivered to thebooster mothe p1pe 32 and in it verse lever pilot-valve 26 is an additional pilot valve 35 which is normally held in its open positionas shown inFig. 2 by virtue of the fact that the arm 20engagesthe stem 36 to sea-tthe valve '37 and cut off exhaust the port 38 and unseat the valve 39 so as to the two sections of the pipe 32 as indicated clearly in Fig.2. H e t In other words the pressure for the fluid V actuated controlling system for the booster motor is subject to the control of the pilot valve" 26 andlthe pilot; Valve 35 associated two valves, namely the reverse lever pilot with the operating motor for the cut-off valve10, a f ,IVhen it is desired to. discontinue use of the booster and: todisentrain it either the Q sufficiently far ply of air pressure to latch 27 is pulled outwardly from under the lug 29 or the reverse lever 25 is withddrawn from the corner in order to release the pivoted member 28 and conse quently the valvular device in the reverse lever pilot valve 26. Under normal operation this would immediately cut 0a the sup- .the entraining motor 7 as well as to the booster throttle operating cylinder 11 and they wouldbe returned'to; their normalpositionin any desired manner asby springs such as indicated in the draw ings; 7

Upon occasions, however, the booster booster even though tothe entrainingj motor,

advance of the re-' establish communication between P throttle 9 may stick in its open position thus permitting operating steam to reach the disentra'inment has taken place. The load being thus removed the booster will race and if it were subse quently attempted to again throw the booster in as it is colloquially expressed or to entrain the booster very serious damage might result to the highly revolving gears. In order to prevent this I provide the following mech anism. Air pressure from the source or supply31 may be conducted through the. pipe, 40 to the face of the piston 23 already described, thereby moving .7 arm 2Q'outwardly and releasing thejvalve 10jby withdrawing the pin 18. The flow of airin the pipe 40 is under the control of two valves 41 and 42 the. valve 41 being normally closed when the throttle valve Sis closedbut being adapted.

to be opened by thejextended rod '13 when the .throttle valve 9 is opened; v In other words whenever V thethrottle is open and {the booster is in operation the valve 41' is opened, flow through "the pipe 40 so that air can v v and this condition prevails should the throt tle valve stick in its open position afteri 1' s: booster motor and desiredjto disentrain the discontinue its use] Since,under normal functioningiof theflap paratus, it is not desired to close the shut-off valve 10 a disabling valve 42, already men;

system. This pressure is delivered to the face of a piston 43 through a pipe 44 consure controlling system is in operation the. piston 43 is of course heldin its 'downward osition and the pivoted arm'45 associated with the piston 43 is held a.way fr.om the stem 46 of the valve 42. i

in the booster controlling nected to the pipe 34. When the fluid pres- I ion 1 When the reverse lever pilot valve 26 is operated to the pipe 33 pressure in so that pressure from the pipe 40 through the branch pipe 46 can reach the smaller end cut off the flow of air through there will of course be no more 47 of the piston 43 thereby forcing this piston upwardly and moving the pivoted mem ber 45 downwardly against the stein '46 in the pipe 34 nor in the pipe 44] order to open the valve 42 and'permit air 7 pressure to fiow'onwardthrough the pipe 40 to the piston 22. v I

WVhon the shut-01f valve 10 is closedand the valve 39' is closed it is obvious'that the booster can not be thrown "into operation or entrained until after the trouble'has been 6 fixed and the throttle valve has again been permitted to seat.

Parts illustrated but not-"specilically described, while they form apart of the booster apparatus, are not specifically associated with my invention and are therefore not described.

' the. arrows.

ed out that arrows have been introduced at various points on the drawings 1n order to booster throttle should stick in its open po-' A summary of the operation is as follows:

Assumingthat the'locomotive is standing still and that it" is desired to'start up with the'aid'of the booster motor thefirst operation will be to throw the reverse lever '25 into the forward corner at the same time raising the latch 27 to the position indicated in Fig. 1. This will open thereverse lever pilot valve 2601' inother words establish communication for the fluid pressurebetween pipe 32 and pipe 33, the flow taking place in the direction indicated by (In this connection it is pointaid in a reading'thereof). This air reaches the entraining motor 7 and entrains the booster and subsequently operates the piston 12 to open the booster throttle 9 and at the same time holds the piston 43 downwardly so as not to interfere with the stem of the valve 42. No air pressure can then flow through the pipe 40.

When the booster is to be disentrained either the reverse lever 25 is hooked up or the latch 27 is pulled downwardly and away from the lug 29. The reverse lever pilot valve 26 then closes ofl communication between pipes 32 and33 and the entraining motor 7 is permitted to disentrain the booster and under normal operation or functioning of the device piston 12 would be retracted and the booster throttle 9 would close. But if the sition air would flow through the pipe 40 past the valve 41, against the smaller face 47 of the piston 43 and then onwardly through the pipe 40, as the valve 42 is opened, to.

the face of the piston 22 which latter would be moved outwardly to drop the cut-off valve and close the valve 39 so that all fluid pressure to the booster controllingsystem would be cut off.

I claim 1. The combination of a normally inoperative, locomotive booster motor; a controlling system for causing and stopping operation of said motor; and a supplementary means under the control of said system which automatically prevents attempted op trained locomotive booster motor, means for 1 entraining and disentraining said motor, a booster throttle valve, and means under the control of said throttle valve for preventconduit which is adapted to be ing entrainment should'the throttle remain vious di'sentralnmentoperation.-

4. The combination of a'normally dis entrained.locomotive booster motor, means for entraining and disentrainin'g said motor, aboosterthrottle, a fluid pressure actuated controlling system for automatically in its open position subsequent to'a preentraining the motorand openingthe throt tle, and means subject to the throttle for preventing entrainment should the throttle re main 'in'its open position subsequent to a previous disentrainment operation.

5. The combination of a locomotive, a steam actuated booster motor there-for, a

booster throttle when the locomotive is being operated, a normally open shut-ofi valve for supplementing the booster throttle, and

means for causing closure of said valve should the booster throttle remain in its open position when the booster is out out.

6. The combination of a normally disentrained locomotive booster motor, means for 'entraining and disentraining said motor,a booster throttle, means for causing entrainment or disentrainment and opening or closing ofthe throttle, a normally open shut-off valve for supplementing thebooster throttle, and means for causing closure of said valve should the booster throttle-remain in its open position subsequent to a previous disentrainment operation.

7. The combination of a locomotive booster motor, a throttle valve therefor, anormally open, shut-off valve for supplementing' the throttle valve, means for opening and closing the throttle valve, means for closing the shut-off valve, and means for causing a closure of the shut-off valve should the throttle valve remain in its open position after it is desired to stop operation of the booster.

8. The combination of a locomotive booster motor, a throttle valve therefor, a nor mally open shut-off'valve forsupplementing the throttle valve, a fluid actuated motor device for opening the throttle valve, a conduit for supplying said; motor device with fluid pressure, a second fluid actuated motor device for causing closure of said shut-off valve, a conduit for supplying said second? motor device with fluid pressure, anormally open valve in saidflflrst supply conduit.

which, however, is adapted to be closed upon actuation of the motor device for said shutoff valve,,and a valve in said second supply opened upon actuation of the motor device for said throttle valve and to be held open-should the throttlevalvestick in its open position.

9. A fluid pressure actuated controlling 1 system for a steam actuated locomotive booster motor comprising in combination with the locomotive reverse lever; a booster so booster throttle valve, means for opening the throttle valve; a supplementary, normally open, shut-off valve; a source of fluid pres sure; a reverse lever pilot valve for the fluid pressure'for the system a fluid motor for openingthe throttle valve; a fluid motor foreausing closure of the shut-ofli valve; a second pilot valve for the fluid pressure for the system normally held in open posi-i t-ion by the fluid motor forthe shut-off valve.

but closed when the shut-off valve is closed;

a valve for controlling the fluid pressure to r the shut-off valve motor which is closed when thethrottle is closed but open when the throttle is open; anda second valve for controlling the fluid pressure to thevshut-ofl valve motor which is closed when the reverse 1 lever pilot valve is open but which 'is opened when the reverse and the booster throttle sticks in'its open position whereby fluid pressure reaches and ac tuates the shut-oil valve motor to cause closure of said shut-off valve and of the fluid pressure pilot valve which it controls.

In testimony whereof; I have hereunto signed my name.

lever pilot valve is closed FRANK RI PETERS. 7 

